The Life cycle of the Moon Jellyfish Aurelia aurita

Starting more than twenty years ago I photographed the developmental stages of marine organisms against a black background, with the idea that I would assemble them one day into a single composition. I tried to do this in the darkroom back then, but that never led to any satisfactory results. Now with Photoshop and a large collection of digitized life cycle stages, the old idea can be realized. This is the first one in the series. The large photo below is an image map: hover with your mouse over the picture and the following explanations will appear: ephyra, juvenile medusa, rhopalium (sense organ), strobila, ephyra budding off, scyphistoma (polyp), adult medusa, scyphistomae developed through budding (asexual reproduction), planula, settled planula, development of planula into scyphistoma, mouth, stomach, radial canal, oral lobes, tentacles, gastral filaments, click for more jellyfish, copyright Robert Brons 2013 All rights reserved.

Jellyfish life cycle (Moon Jelly Aurelia aurita)

The life cycle of the Moon Jellyfish Aurelia aurita

 

Imagemap

Printer’s tray with microscopic subjects

Imagemap

printer's tray with microscopic subjects: use the image map above for explanation. 

Pico Reef Aquarium (appr. 5 mL)

When I lived in Eilat (1996) I had a minuscule reef aquarium, filled with Red Sea water, in which I kept foraminiferans, radiolarians and other microscopic marine life. It was a simple flat bottom culture flask, placed on the table of a reverted microscope. I changed water weekly; feeding was not necessary since diatoms and other algae developed spontaneously to form a miniature ecosystem. Benthic foraminiferans I could keep for months, the planktonic radiolarians only a couple of days. The picture below of a live foraminiferan (Peneroplis sp.) was made in this little tank. The pseudopodia are photographed in phase contrast using electronic flash. The shell was illuminated with a second flash. Move you mouse over the picture and features will pop up: shell (seen from the underside)| shell aperture| protruding reticulopodia| reticulopodia| cyanobacteria| green alga| Peneroplis sp.

A live foraminiferan (Peneroplis sp.) from the Red Sea

Interactive Paramecium



Paramecium caudatum in phase contrast. Use the image map below for explanation.

 


Move your mouse over this picture and morphological features will pop up: contractile vacuole| radiating canal| macronucleus| food vacuole| oral groove| cytoplasma| cilia| bacteria| posterior| anterior.